So, the Christmas break meant I could find some time this morning to record a little ditty on this fabulous instrument. I hope the AGF doesn’t mind it’s not some delicate Celtic air, played slowly, with endless opportunities for the sustain to ring on and on like a chorus of Angels; there’s plenty of that demonstrating Rory’s guitars elsewhere.
Instead, since I am Martin Carthy’s no. 1 fan, I thought I’d tackle a real finger twister that he played live a lot in the mid 80’s. Not easy, so please excuse the clams; guitar-playing is definitely not the day job! Tuning is CGCDGA…yes “A”, so the top E especially is way, way down. Lots of palm muting as well, to give that metronomic Carthy “thud” (well, that’s what I’m aiming for anyway).
That I even considered a Carthy tune for this guitar says a lot about it’s ability to tackle different genres; I’ve generally found that Carthy’s music doesn’t translate at all well to modern fingerstyle Somogyi-esque instruments: You really need something more “Martin”. So, I’ve been using a mahogany Claxton OM for these tunes but I think the Taran copes superbly (perhaps even better…). Whatever, I haven’t been able to keep my hands off it since it arrived. It’s everything I wanted – as good as the one I played a couple of years ago that precipitated this unexpected commission. Thanks +++ Rory!
Seasons best everyone.
Cheers,
Steve
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